Sanwo-Olu: Lagos’ investment in tourism for jobs, wealth creation

TRACKING___The Lagos State government has disclosed that its huge investment in the tourism sector was designed for job and wealth creations for the teeming population of the state. That was even as it has reiterated its commitment to making Lagos State a choice destination in Africa, working in Partnership with the private sector. This was made known yesterday by Governor Babajide Sanwo–Olu, through the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Uzmat aAkinbile – Yussuf, while speaking on the state’s preparation for the celebration of this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD), which is billed to hold across the world on September 27.

‘‘We are leveraging on our investment in tourism for job and wealth creation, to curb youth restiveness, discover new tourism potentials and ultimately contribute significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the state,’’ said the governor, while justifying the reason for his administration’s dedication to tourism as one of its top agenda. On the WTD, he described the theme as timely; ‘‘The theme for this year’s WTD ‘Tourism and Rural Development’ is timely and quite apt considering the need to look inward and develop tourism attractions in rural areas as a strategy to make our domestic tourism more vibrant.

‘‘The ministry will hold a hybrid intense brainstorming and very incisive session as a way of celebrating WTD 2020. Tourism stakeholders who will be participating in the event will join the celebration through Zoom platform, Facebook Livestream on Lagos State Government and from four divisions of state, while a smaller number will join some high profile guests at the physical event taking place in Ikeja.”

He stated that: ‘‘We hope that the event would further enhance our road map for the Ministry to going forward in discovering more tourism sites for development, hence the reason we are involving tourism stakeholders across the five divisions of the state to participate in the event.

‘‘This year’s celebration, for obvious reasons, is very unique and at the same time peculiar in the history of the entire world coming at a time when tourism activities is suffering a serious setback due to the inactivity in the sector occasioned by COVID- 19 pandemic. ‘‘The ministry is working hard to transform Lagos State into a tourism and entertainment hub in Africa by exploring, promoting the potentials that abound in the State, as well as supporting the thriving entertainment and arts industry as a viable platform to attract visitors and also create jobs in the state.’’